A Legend Passes

Jack Dempsey, a beefy, boisterous son of the Irish Channel who became a police reporter renowned for a booming voice, an ever-present straw hat and cigar, and a dogged determination to get the story first, died Thursday at Live Oak Village in Slidell. He was 92.

Mr. Dempsey, who wrote for The New Orleans States and, later, The States-Item, happened to reign over his realm of criminals and cops during the final decades of the period when an afternoon newspaper was the main source for finding out what had happened during the day. Until 1958, New Orleans had competing afternoon papers, The States and The New Orleans Item. They were combined to form The States-Item, which merged with The Times-Picayune in 1980.

In his heyday, when The States and The Item relied heavily on street sales, Mr. Dempsey employed what his States-Item colleague Angus Lind called "a combination of guile, contacts and natural curiosity" to stay just ahead of the competition with the latest development in a sensational crime story.

Once, acting on a tip Mr. Dempsey received that the husband of a murdered woman was going to be charged with killing her, editors at The States had an extra edition ready to go, but no word came for three hours. They were anxious hours, but editors had faith in Mr. Dempsey.

When he finally came through with the news at 6 p.m., the presses rolled. "We sent 12,000 papers downtown, and they were sold out in minutes," Walter Cowan, Mr. Dempsey's boss, told Lind in an interview.

On at least one occasion, Mr. Dempsey relied on sheer brass.

In a sensational murder case, the judge heard arguments from both sides over whether the slain woman's child could testify. When the judge said he would announce his decision at 2 p.m., Mr. Dempsey, who was sitting in the jury box with other reporters, popped up and said: "Make it 1 o'clock, judge! I got a 1 o'clock deadline," Lind wrote.

The judge complied.

Mr. Dempsey, who retired in 1981 after 39 years as a police reporter, "never quit trying to gain an advantage on his competition," Cowan said. "He did anything to meet and beat the competition, and beat was the word."

In one case, Mr. Dempsey's scoop was worldwide. In several columns of courthouse news, starting late in 1966, Mr. Dempsey relayed the rumor that District Attorney Jim Garrison was going to launch an investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

John Wilds, The States-Item's city editor, asked several reporters, including Rosemary James, to get to the bottom of it. Garrison refused to talk, James said, but when she and her colleagues investigated court fees and fines, they found several trips to Dallas, where Kennedy had been killed.

That was the beginning of a sensational string of stories that ended in 1969 with the acquittal of Clay Shaw, a New Orleans businessman who was the only man arrested in Garrison's wide-ranging inquiry.

"Without Jack reporting these rumors, it may have taken us a lot longer to come across it," James said. "He was good at ferreting out things."

To get his scoops, Mr. Dempsey assiduously cultivated his sources. That meant stopping at Freitag's Bakery every morning to buy hot doughnuts for the police at headquarters, he said in a 1985 interview, followed by a stop at Charity Hospital's emergency room.

"There was an old head nurse there," he said, "and (when) I found out when her birthday was, (I) used to bring her perfume and candy from time to time. So sometimes, she'd let me put on a doctor's smock, and I'd go in and ask the patient what happened. They'd just assume I was a doctor and tell me everything. Got a lot of scoops that way."

Mr. Dempsey was a character, and he knew it. At States-Item staff parties, he could be counted on to sing "Every Man a King," Huey Long's theme song, in what he called, in the tones of the Irish Channel, "a loud, stentorian verce." At the end of every dispatch he teletyped from the police headquarters press room, he used the signature "alihot," which stood for "a legend in his own time."

"I'm a novelty," he said in the 1981 interview. When his wife, Martha, urged him to take things seriously, Lind said this was Mr. Dempsey's reply: "I tried it for a week, but it didn't last."

Mr. Dempsey never used his first name, Richard. He grew up in the Irish Channel, where he sold newspapers to help his family make ends meet. One of his high-school friends was Russell Long, who became a U.S. senator -- and the best man at Mr. Dempsey's wedding.

Although he aspired to become a boxer like the other Jack Dempsey, whom he met years later, Mr. Dempsey went to LSU, where he studied journalism.

He served in the Navy during World War II and in the Marine Corps during the Korean conflict.

When Mr. Dempsey returned to civilian life, he resumed the role for which he will be remembered.

"He had a good time as a police reporter," James said. "He was motivated partially by a desire to get the news, partially by a good, strong Irish ego and partially by having a good time."

Mr. Dempsey's name and legend live on. Shortly before he retired, two policemen he knew received his permission to attach his name to a seafood restaurant they were opening on Poland Avenue.

And James, working with her husband, Joseph J. DeSalvo Jr., and William Faulkner scholar W. Kenneth Holditch, established the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society to celebrate creativity. When the group decided to give out awards to honor achievements in literature, journalism, music, art and community service, James had the perfect name for them: The ALIHOT Awards, which, she said, "are given to men and women who qualify as legends in their own times."

Survivors include two sons, Richard and Patrick Dempsey; two daughters, Colleen Carmichael of Slidell and Katherine Del Grande, of Sewickley, Pa.; a stepbrother, Donald Hayes of Metairie; a stepsister, Mary Louise Hayes of Metairie; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

Jacob Schoen & Son Funeral Home is handling arrangements, which are incomplete.

Window Wednesday

Bet Glenn Meche knows where this is.

They killed our paper

American Zombie - as usual - tells it like it is.  Thanks, Jason.  
American Zombie: The TP is dead....long live the TP

Here is an excerpt from Gambit, the part that broke my heart:

No one from Advance Publications or Newhouse, the parent companies of The Times-Picayune, was on hand to deliver the news — leaving the job to the paper's editors in brief individual meetings with those whom they supervised. The paper's new publisher, Ricky Mathews, was not seen in the building.

Richard Thompson, a business writer, brought a bottle of Crown Royal to his individual meeting. He ended up splitting it with business editor Kim Quillen. Both were fired.

So was dining critic Brett Anderson, the James Beard Award-winning writer who had chronicled the rebounding of the restaurant industry and the seafood industry after Hurricane Katrina and the BP disaster. So was longtime religion reporter Bruce Nolan, who had confronted editor Jim Amoss in a speech that was taped and leaked out of the newsroom after a contentious meeting with employees. So were education reporter Barri Bronston, reporters Katy Reckdahl and Paul Purpura, sportswriter Lori Lyons, editor Dennis Persica, graphic artist Ryan Smith, political cartoonist Steve Kelley and photographers John McCusker, Matthew Hinton and Eliot Kamenitz. So were managing editors Peter Kovacs and Dan Shea, who had been shut out of discussions with Mathews. Shea told colleagues his last day would be Friday.

Read the entire well-written article here

Tomatoes and Zydeco

This past weekend was the Creole Tomato and Cajun Zydeco Festival in New Orleans. Despite the wet, wet weather, we were lucky to catch the fun in between rain bands. It was well worth the gamble.





This festival duo took place from the Jackson Square area down to the U.S. Mint. There was food and beverages, music and shopping, happy people and happy dogs everywhere!





As we arrived the U.S. Navy Brass Band was performing Do What You Wanna and I think they did a damn good job.



We spotted this beautiful ice sculpture before it melted away. When we passed by later in the day there was a different sculpture.


(it's a pelican in case you couldn't figure it out)

At the Mint we watched Bruce Daigrepont perform. Good stuff! The crowd thought so too.






We watched a cooking demo by Chef Chris Montero of Cafe B (a new Brennan Restaurant). He made creole tomatoes with green tomato relish, topped with crabmeat. It was tasty!





But that's not all we ate. We enjoyed a catfish poboy from Ninja Restaurant . The fish was perfectly fried in a tempura batter with a wonderful remoulade.




The spring gazpacho from Covey Rise Farm was quite refreshing.



Crepes a la Carte was serving Creole Tomato, Bacon and Mozzerella Crepes. Decadent!



And the crawfish bread!!! mmm-mmm-mmm!




We spent the night in New Orleans at the Westin because we planned on going to the House of Blues to see Kenny Wayne Shepherd, a Louisiana native.



Here's his bus outside the venue. The show was EXCELLENT. We're hoping to see him in Orange Beach this August. It was a great staycation!

Useful Search Tips

Bob Welch - : RIP Bob

My Kids

Last December I witnessed my only child graduate from college.


I'm extremely proud of her. Although she still lives with us, she's all grown up now, with her future laid out ahead of her. She'll be leaving home soon, but I still have "kids" at home. Here they are



This is Deuce. He's part Lab, part Chesapeake Bay Retriever. He is constantly happy and he thinks he's a small dog. Deuce is very smart, too. He amuses us constantly and thinks that if one of the other pets get a treat, HE should get a treat. Deuce is 18 months old and is not finished growing yet. (yikes!) When he stands on his hind legs he can look me in the eye.



This is "Squirrel". Hubby initially named him Chipper, but he answers to anything, really. In October of 2010 a cat that we no longer have (eaten by something from the woods behind our house) brought Squirrel and his brother into our house. We think the two fell from their nest during a very windy storm the night before. We bottle fed he and his brother, but his brother was weaker and didn't make it.



Sweetpea is 17 years old. We got her when my daughter was seven. She may outlive us all. We see Sweetpea about an hour a day when she comes out to eat. The rest of her time is spent sleeping under my daughter's bed.



Here's Gizmo/Moses/Gray Cat. He is also in his teens. Gizmo's hobby is going towards the back of the house howling his head off. Gizmo is a little wimp, but we love him nonetheless.



That's Meeko on the left and Midnight - her brother - on the right. We lost Midnight last October very suddenly when the vet discovered a mass on his kidneys. It was difficult because it all happened in one day. While we were at the vet's, we noticed a huge cat behind the counter in a cage. The girl working there said he had been looking for a home for over a year.



We adopted him right there. His name is Sam and he likes ham. He's 5 years old and 18 pounds of love. Sam softened the blow of losing Midnight a little bit and I believe part of Midnight is inside of him.

We'll always have pets, I think, especially rescues. I like that thought.

Window Wednesday

Taken in downtown Thibodaux, Louisiana

Beautiful Venus

Cat Copter

The time is NOW

I would like to start of with a warning that there is profane language in this post.....caused by the senseless killings going on in the NOLA area.

This past week has been especially violent in our country and it's only Thursday.
There's the Seattle killing where the perpetrator had "anger issues". His brother thought it would end this way. Hey, Bro! DO SOMETHING!

a neo-nazi murdered people before taking his own life (coward) in Arizona

The disturbing "zombie" thing in Miami

But the one that hits closest to my heart (actually there are TWO for me) is the cold blooded murder of a FIVE YEAR OLD LITTLE GIRL in Central City at a birthday party for a 10 year old....who was also a victim. Luckily he lived. Can't imagine how fucked up he's gonna be.

The "kids" in the birthday party murder had two handguns and AN AK47. That's an assault rifle, y'all. There were two young men at the party that seem to be their targets. Those two are not cooperating with authorities.

Really, boys. Innocent people died because of whatever you may have done. Blood is on your hands.

Another murder that troubles me is the killing of a man my age - 58 years old - sitting on his stoop (front porch) when a 13 year old kid, accompanied by a 15 year old pull a gun on this man and demand "everything". Before this poor man could respond the little bastard 13 year old shoots the man in the abdomen. He died before the EMTs got there 15 minutes later.

I remember a few months after Katrina when thought about how we had a wonderful potential of rebuilding a New Orleans without the scum, murderers, drug bastards. But in the early months of 2006 the these animals came skulking back - without their parents in many cases.

It wasn't bad at first, but it turned into a tidal wave by 2007. And now - in 2012 things are in really bad shape. There is no respect for life in the minds of these killers: these "kids" would kill anything to get to whatever evil goal they have. I have seen references to "gang activity"
related to crimes committed in the last few months. People have been murdered GANGLAND STYLE.

Hey, there's an FBI webpage for gang activity in Louisiana. Maybe it needs a zap of electricity to wake it up?

It's time for something to happen. We can't just sit around and wring our hands and let these thugs win. I don't know what it will take to take control of the streets of New Orleans other than - as suggested by a commenter on the dreaded NOLA.com website - put a Navy Seal on every corner. It's a sickness that isn't unique to New Orleans. Chicago had 10 fatal shootings over the Memorial Day weekend, with 40 wounded.

Any suggestions?